"I'm free!" she screamed aloud. "Oh, G.o.d, I'm free!" free!"

But how? Why? Her mind raced. Kelly had got free of him-and Kelly had a deep bite mark on her shoulder. Lazlo had got free of him-right after being knocked down by a car.

Rob had raised his head and shoulders above the sill. He glared at her with a mixture of fear and fury.

"Pain, Rob! Pain Pain! That's the key! Pain cuts the contact, breaks his control!"

As he levered himself over the sill and onto the floor, Rob looked at her with confused eyes, full of mistrust.

"It's me, Rob! Really me! I'm free of him!"

G.o.d, it was wonderful to speak her own words, have control of her own limbs. But for how long?

She, picked up a piece of gla.s.s in her good right hand and stared at the left's bleeding palm. There might be a way to hold Gabor off. She clenched her teeth and drove the point of the gla.s.s into her injured hand. She screamed with the burst of renewed pain.

"Kara!" Rob shouted. He was inside the window now, staring at her with horrified eyes. "What the h.e.l.l-?"

"It'll keep him away!" she said, gasping through her teeth. "G.o.d, it's got to!"

"Then it's true? Gabor is behind this whole thing?"

His eyes were wild, as if he still didn't believe any of this was really happening. But he'd mentioned Gabor. That meant he knew!

"Yes! Gabor-the monster!"

"Where is he?" he said.

Kara could hear Jill behind her, sobbing, scared half to death, calling her name.

"In the bas.e.m.e.nt," Kara said. "Behind the paneling. Get down there, Rob. Kill him!" Those words sounded so alien, but she knew it was the only way. "Kill him before he comes back. Don't ever let him do this to me again! Please Please!"

She plunged the gla.s.s into her hand again.

Rob's gut churned as Kara screamed again with pain.

"Christ, Kara! You won't have a hand left!"

He glanced around the room. There had to be something he could do. And then he saw it. The velvet tie-back from the side drape he had hung onto when he was falling lay on the floor amid the shattered gla.s.s. He grabbed it and held it up.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Tie you up."

She frowned, then smiled with relief.

"Yes! Oh, thank you!" She looked down at the b.l.o.o.d.y gla.s.s dagger in her hand. "I don't know how many more times I can do this!"

Rob wasn't sure he could stab himself even once. He was sure, however, that he was in the presence of the bravest woman-the bravest person person-he had ever known.

He helped her over to a ladderback chair that was set against the wall by the record shelves. Kara dropped into it and pushed her hands around the back of the chair.

"Good knots, Rob. I don't want to get free."

As he looped the cord around her wrists and arms and through the rungs of the back, Jill began screaming.

"What are you doing to my mother? Stop it!"

"It's okay, Jill," Kara said in a soothing voice. "I asked him to do this."

"But you're hurt hurt!"

"I know. But I did that to myself. Rob's not hurting me. He's doing this so I don't hurt myself any more."

"But why why?"

"There's a bad man in the bas.e.m.e.nt who's making me hurt myself. Rob's only going to tie me up for a few minutes while he makes the man stop, then he's going to let me go. Right, Rob?"

Rob kissed her on the forehead. He'd never loved her more than he did at this moment.

"Right." He looked Jill right in the eye, hoping she'd see no threat in him. "And then I'm coming back upstairs and letting her loose. And then we're all getting out of here. For good! But whatever happens, don't let your mother get loose till I get back!"

He could tell Jill wasn't buying the whole package, but at least her panic seemed to be under control.

"He's right, Jill. Don't let me get loose. Okay?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

Rob pulled the cord as tightly as he dared around Kara's wrists. He didn't want to cut off circulation, but he didn't want her getting out, either. Not after what she'd done to him a moment ago.

Rob shuddered at the memory of that fall. If the drape in his right hand hadn't caught for that second, allowing his left hand to grab hold of the cornice- He stepped over to the record cabinet and pulled his revolver and holster from his leather jacket. He looked at Kara and nodded once, then ran for the stairs.

"There's a lever up among the pipes by the wall. Pull it down!"

"Got it!"

He took the steps down three at a time.

You keep thrusting but you can't get back into Kara. Twice you've tried and each time you were rebuffed by blasts of pain. But the third time is lucky. You are back in. There's sunlight, cold air from the broken window, pain in the left hand but not enough to break the bond. As you s.n.a.t.c.h the reins of control, you hear Kara cry out.

No! Not again!

"Yes! Again! And this time-"

You can't move her arms. A chair-you're in a chair. Tied Tied in a chair! You pull frantically on the cord that binds you. And the detective is nowhere in sight! in a chair! You pull frantically on the cord that binds you. And the detective is nowhere in sight!

"Where is he?"

In the bas.e.m.e.nt, Gabor. Getting ready to riddle your filthy little body with holes!

Her rage, her hatred of you is an angry surf, it pummels you, swirls around you and tries to drag you under. Too strong, this one. Too angered at having her life taken over. But you hang on to control and continue to struggle with the cord that binds your wrists. They loosen slightly, but not enough to make a difference. You can get free of them eventually, but eventually will be too late.

No! This can't be! You fight the panic. You can't let them beat you! Not these two inferiors. You must think!

And then you notice Jill standing before you, tears in her eyes, looking frightened and confused.

"Jill, honey," you say, remembering her mother's pet terms for her. "Untie me, bug."

You feel Kara's rage and desperation beating against you anew.

No! Leave her out of this!

"You said not to," Jill says. "Not until Rob comes back from stopping the bad man in the bas.e.m.e.nt."

Those deadly words are all the more chilling from the mouth of a child. You search for a plausible reason for Kara to have changed her mind.

"I know, bug, but I forgot to tell Detec-Rob something very important. There's a dangerous trap in the cellar. The bad man set it. And if we don't tell Rob right away, he'll get hurt! You don't want him to be hurt, do you?"

"No," she says, her eyes and voice filled with uncertainty.

"Then untie me. Quickly! Please, bug! There's no time to waste if we're going to save him!"

Jill's face is tortured for a moment, then she runs around to the back of the chair.

It's too late, Gabor! Kara says. He's found you by now! Any minute now and I'll be free of you forever He's found you by now! Any minute now and I'll be free of you forever!

You realize that she's probably right but you must try.

The child whimpers as she struggles with the knots. You feel something pull free. There's a little extra room around your wrists. You yank them free of the cord, leap up, and grab Jill by the arm. Terror propels you down the stairs, dragging the frightened child after you.

What are you doing, you monster? Leave her out of this!

You could drop Kara into limbo to shut her up but that would distract you for a moment, and you need every second, every ounce of concentration at your disposal if you're going to have a chance of surviving.

On the first floor, you stop in the kitchen and pull one of the carving knives from a drawer, then head for the bas.e.m.e.nt.

It's too late, Gabor! Too late!

But you know that as long as you're still alive and still in Kara's body, it's not too late.

You begin shouting as you enter the stairwell.

Rob had been pounding on the paneling, reaching up among the pipes, but had found nothing. There was an empty s.p.a.ce behind the panels, he could hear that, but his questing hands hadn't come in contact with anything that felt like a lever- Until now.

His hand closed around a short length of L-bar. He pulled down on it and heard a click inside the paneling. A section sank inward. He was pushing on it, trying to find a way in, when he heard someone shouting on the stairs.

Kara's voice! How did she-?

"Don't do it Harris! I've got your daughter and if I die, so does she!"

Rob heard Jill's terrified sobs before he saw her. And when she came into view, Kara was holding a knife at her throat.

Not Jill!

A current of panic buzzed through Rob for an instant. Then he drew his pistol.

"Give me the gun, Harris," said Kara's voice.

The menace in her eyes, her expression-so alien.

And to see her pressing the point of a knife against Jill's throat sickened him.

"No way, Gabor!"

"I'll cut her. I will."

Rob noticed that the faint trace of accent he used to hear in Gates' voice had wormed its way into Kara's. He looked into Jill's eyes, saw the hurt mixed with the fear.

"That's not your mom, Jill. That's someone pretending to be your mom. Just stand quiet and I'll get us out of this."

"I sincerely doubt that. The gun gun, Harris!"

"Forget that. I give you the gun, you'll shoot us both."

Rob ransacked his brain for a way to bargain out of this. The first step in any hostage situation was to keep everyone talking so you could think.

"I don't want that," Kara's voice said. "This is merely self defense. I'll let you go. I just want to protect myself."

This from someone who just moments ago had pushed him out a third story window.

"Right. You'll let Jill and me waltz out of here."

Kara's face hardened. Her hand moved the point of the knife up to Jill's right eye. Jill whimpered with terror.

"I'm going to start cutting her, Harris. Starting with this eye. And I'm going to keep cutting her until you put that gun on the floor and slide it over to me."

Rob felt beads of sweat burst from every pore on his body. He pointed his revolver at the section of paneling that had moved and spoke through his teeth. His voice was low, almost a whisper.

"One drop of her blood, Gabor... I see one drop of blood and I empty this pistol into that wall. And then I go through that wall and I get hold of whatever's left of you in there and I tear it apart with my bare hands."

"Jill won't be much to look at by then."

"But you'll be dead."